科研之友
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摘要
Subterranean termites are highly susceptible to desiccation and moisture is a critical factor in their survival. Termites possess a pair of salivary reservoirs that store water, which presumably is used to increase the humidity in unfavorable microclimates. The main objective of this study was to measure the moisture change of a dry food source (cellulose pad) in the presence of the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, over a 21-day period. The volume of the workers' salivary reservoirs was determined concomitantly as an indicator of the amount of stored water. The test apparatus consisted of two cylindrical plastic containers connected by a 95 cm-length of tygon tubing; the larger container held moist sand and the smaller food arena held an oven-dried cellulose pad. This test set-up demonstrated that termites rapidly transported water to the dry food source, with the mean moisture content of the cellulose pad reaching similar to 7% after just 3 hours and subsequently attaining a maximum of similar to 46% at the 21-day observation. Over time, moisture levels continuously increased in the presence of termites and moisture levels were highly correlated with consumption of the cellulose pad. Salivary reservoir volume was smallest for termites removed from the food chamber in comparison to termites removed from the moist sand throughout the entire study (except on day 7); however this difference was significant only at the 3-h and 18-h observations. The termites' salivary reservoirs were observed to be at their maximum volume (similar to 0.7 ul) when workers were removed at 3 hours from the moist sand arena, and they were at their minimum volume (similar to 0.1 ul) for workers removed at 9 h from the food arena. These data indicate that termites indeed use their salivary reservoirs as "water sacs" to relocate water from moist areas to dry resources.
- 出版日期2010
